


Pick Up

by alessandralee



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Bars and Pubs, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-28
Updated: 2013-11-28
Packaged: 2018-01-02 20:33:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1061322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alessandralee/pseuds/alessandralee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grant and Jemma spend some time together in a hotel bar after a long and exhausting mission.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pick Up

When Grant Ward enters the hotel bar, all he’s hoping to do it quietly enjoy a couple of beers before returning to his room to fire off a quick (and vague) email to his younger brother. Then he’s calling it a night. Normally he’s a bit of a night owl, but the team’s weeklong mission in Toronto culminated that morning with a foot chase, and shootout, and him grappling with an assassin while hanging off the side of CN Tower. So he’s more than happy to enjoy a night in a fancy hotel, even if Coulson was being intentionally vague about why they were spending the night.

It seems he’s not the only team member with equally low-key plans for the night. Skye has begged him to join her, Fitz, and Simmons for what she called ‘an epic night of bar hopping and team bonding.’ But since Jemma is already seated at a table in the back corner of the bar, she must have passed on the trip too. Skye and Fitz alone on the town sounds like a recipe for disaster, but he pushes that thought out of his mind. He’s not worrying about them tonight; he’s relaxing. Between Fitz’s technical know-how and Skye’s people skill’s, they should be able to get themselves out of any of the tricky situations they will probably get themselves into.

He walks up to the bar and surveys the offerings on tap.

“Molson,” he requests of the short, stocky bartender. He’s glad to see the man pull out a pint glass, which he expertly pours the beer into. Grant takes a moment to appreciate SHIELD’s taste in hotels before making his way to Jemma’s table and taking the seat across from her.

She briefly looks up from the book in her lap when he sits down, and takes a moment to sip from the half-full glass of white wine resting on the table, before returning to her reading. Good. He’s here for quiet. Still, he can’t help but be a little curious about what the scientist gets up to in her spare time, so he glances at the cover of her book.

“The Runaway Princess,” he reads the title out loud. It’s not what he would expect Simmons to read. “Any good?”

She sticks a cocktail napkin between the pages before placing the book down on the table.

“It’s mindless and entertaining. And since it requires maybe a tenth of the focus that the journals I have sitting in my room do, that’s what I need. It’s been a long day.”

He can’t help but agree with the sentiment. “At least you didn’t get shot at.”

She smiles, aware that he’s teasing her and not actually to downplay the seriousness of the work she does.

“No, but I did patch you up after you were shot at. Which a I hope you’re not planning to do again tonight.” She leans over to tap on the edge of his glass in a way that he find oddly seductive, although he doesn’t think she meant it to. “Alcohol acts as a blood thinner.”

He’s actually aware of that fact, both from training and his own person experience.

He shakes his a little clear out the tension suddenly building in his chest, and lifts his own glass for a few deep gulps.

“So, you didn’t want to join Fitz and Skye?” he asks her as he returns his glass to its spot on the table, trying to match the bottom of the glass with the ring of water lying on the wood.

“I considered it. Part of me wanted to watch Skye talk her way out of whatever trouble they’ll likely get themselves into. But when she used the phrase ‘paint the town red,’ I decided that I didn’t want to actually experience any of that trouble. I do hope they make it back in one piece.” She smiles before leaning back slighting to down the rest of the glass. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get another.”

He watches as the bartender shamelessly tries to flirt with her. A small part of him actually feels embarrassed for the guy because, as warm and friendly as Jemma naturally is, it’s obvious to him that she’s not interested. When she returns to the table, the bartended glares at Ward and he kind of enjoys the fact that the other man is jealous of him.

“He gave it to me for free, which I think it fair considering the awful pick-up lines I had to endure.” The glass she sets down in front of her is a brighter shade of yellow and much thicker than any wine Grant has ever drank.

“Pick up line _s_?” he asks, with a heavy emphasis on the ‘s’ at the end.

“Three in quick succession. Are you an interior decorator? Because when I saw you the room became beautiful.”

He can’t help but laugh at the fact that someone actually tried to use that on her.

She continues. “So you know what this shirt is made of? Boyfriend material. Clearly not.” She grumbles the last bit to herself. He makes a mental note that Jemma Simmons is not fond of pick-up lines. Maybe a bottle of wine would be a better gesture. Not that he plans on making one.

“Oh, and my favorite. You shouldn’t wear so much makeup. It’s messing with perfection. That’s a back-handed compliment if I’ve ever heard one.”

At this point, the red flush rising on her cheeks as she gets worked up amuses him more than the bartender’s awful attempts. It takes Grant a moment to stop gaping at her and compose himself. He does so by trying to figure out exactly what’s in the glass she’s drinking from. Clearly, she’s noticed the way he’s staring at it.

“It’s ice wine. The grapes are frozen on the vine, so it’s sweeter. Do you want a sip?” She pushes the glass across the table to him.

He’s not sure what frozen grapes have to do with sweet wine, and truth be told he’s not a fan of sweet wine to begin with, but he takes a sip anyway. Compared to the beer he’s been drinking, it tastes like pure sugar. Definitely not his thing.

“Delicious,” he says with a face that says he’s lying.

“I can’t drink wine if it’s not incredibly sweet. At least this stuff comes out of a bottle. That’s a step up from what I drank at the Academy.” She jokes, and polishes off her nearly full glass in a matter of seconds.

When she places the empty glass back down he offers to refill both of their drinks. She accepts his offer, and her slightly glazed eyes lead him to believe that it’s not only so she can avoid another uncomfortable encounter with the bartender. The man, whose nametag reads Fred, glares again as he pours the drinks but doesn’t actually say anything. That makes Ward’s life easier.

When he returns with their drinks, she slouched down a bit in her chair.

“This is my last one,” she announces. “Hold me to that.”

“Just three? I didn’t expect you to be such a lightweight,” he teases.

“Five actually,” she corrects. He must look surprised, because she adds “I don’t get to indulge much when we’re on The Bus, so I’m enjoying it now.”

They talk more, and he finishes his second beer before she finishes her last glass of wine. When she gets up from her chair, she looks momentarily disoriented and he assumes that’s because of the alcohol.

“I can carry you to your room if you need me to,” he jokingly offers, though a part of him wishes she would take him up on it. He attributes that to the alcohol, not that two beers usually affects him much.

“I’m fine,” she replies, more loudly than she intended.

He follows her to her room anyway. She must not be feeling the affects as much as he initially thought though, because she doesn’t fumble while reaching for her key card, and she manages to get the door to open in just one swipe. It took Skye six tries to get into her room earlier that day, so one while drunk is impressive.

She bids him goodnight with a friendly smile and a small wave, then closes the door behind her. He spends a moment staring at the white door and wishing they’d stayed in the bar longer before heading around the corner to his own room.

___________

In the morning, he’s a bit surprised that Jemma makes it down to the lobby before he does. Fitz and Skye trail in after him, obviously hung-over to the point that Skye is actually wearing sunglasses. Fortunately they have a long flight ahead of them to get over it. Grant’s just glad that he doesn’t go search the entire city for them.

He grabs two paper cups and fills them with coffee from the lobby dispenser. He knows Jemma prefers tea, but will drink coffee with a lot of cream and bit of sugar if that’s all they have around. He pressed one cup into Jemma’s hand and grins mischievously.

“Are you from Tennessee?” She’s momentarily confused. “Because you’re the only ten I see.”

She rolls her eyes. “Please stop. It’s just embarrassing. The bartender was bad enough.”

She follows Coulson out the door to the van waiting to transport them back to the plane. He sits next to her, then leans over and whispers in her ear, “I don’t have a library card, but I’d like to check you out.”

She blushes a bit and swats at him. Good thing he has two pages worth of pick up lines folded up in his back pocket, she looks really good when she blushes.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "Simmons and Ward late night in a bar," requested by Anonymous on tumblr.


End file.
